


You Picked Up

by usandthemoon



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No One Direction, Character Death, Depressed Harry, Established Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Heartbreak, M/M, Major Character Injury, Sad Ending, Sad Harry Styles, Sad Louis Tomlinson, Suicide, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:06:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27440032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usandthemoon/pseuds/usandthemoon
Summary: Louis finds out what's going to happen, he calls Harry relentlessly only to have him pick up right before he decides to take his life.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	You Picked Up

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning, please read with caution. i just wanted to write a really sad one-piece.

"You picked up," Louis says breathlessly. He sits down on the edge of his bed, clutching his racing heart and closing his tired eyes. He can just about make out the sounds of Harry's hoarse breathing, it's rapid and uncontrolled; wildly hectic.

"’M sorry."

"What? Harry, I've called you like fifteen times. Where are you?" Louis blurts out, gripping his phone tightly. "I tried to ring you an hour ago before I got here. I was going to surprise you, take you out for dinner." His tears fall, they burn his reddening cheeks and trickle past his jawline, trickling down the collar of his shirt— _Harry's shirt_.

A shaky breath is sucked in and Harry's voice is trembling, it's oh-so broken. It's fucking terrifying and Louis feels like he can't even breathe. He can't.

"Didn't know you were coming over," Harry mumbles seconds later.

"I know you didn't, love. I did say it was surprise," Louis bites his quivering lip. "Why aren't you home?" He looks up at the ceiling, desperate to avoid glancing down at his lap. He can't see the sheet of paper he's clutching again. It isn't be real, surely.

"Went out," Harry sniffles through the line.

"Yeah?" Louis shuts his eyes while they burn. "Where?"

"Nowhere."

The sound of cars whizz by, wind hissing through his speaker.

"Are you by a road?" Louis asks hesitantly, scrunching his eyelids harshly. His phone shakes in his sweaty palm.

"Yeah," Harry breathes.

"Did you leave me this—" Louis looks down at his lap and swallows. "Did you leave me this piece of paper, Harry?"

"Yeah."

Louis can only grip it with more force. It crumbles and even tears at the edge, yet he doesn't react. "Why did you leave me this?"

‘ _Don’t forget me_.’

Harry's faint whimpers merge with the lethal traffic passing by. "So you'd listen."

Those words are fucking agonising; it's ripping Louis to sheds, breaking him limb by limb, stomping on his airways, snapping his brittle bones, prickling his very skin. He feels lifeless, a mere corpse holding onto a spiteful piece of paper.

"I wouldn't forget you, H," Louis laughs humorously. "You're coming home, yeah?"

Silence growls at him, it stings Louis' ears.

"Harry, you're just going for a quick walk, aren't you? You're coming home now. I won't forget you if I'm about to see you, will I?"

A ginger sob, the call cuts out for a split-second, Harry winces and rattling snaps, Louis can only assume what it is. "Lou..."

"What are you doing, H?"

"Lou..."

Rattling—bitter, condescending rattling—it mocks them both.

"What. Are. You. Doing?"

"Louis," Harry cries. "Louis. Louis. Louis."

"Please don't."

"Louis."

With his ears ringing and his legs wobbling, Louis somehow manages to stand up and reach for his car keys. "Where are you?" he murmurs absently into the speaker. "What's the road called?"

"Louis."

"Tell me the name of the road, Harry." Louis opens the front door to Harry's apartment and locks it. He balances his phone on the junction of his shoulder and neck while doing so. "C'mon."

"Louis."

"Stay right there, on the pavement, love," Louis is running. He's sprinting down the hallway, barging through the heavy, metal doors, dashing down the many steps of the building. "Tell me the name of the road."

Harry's many sobs are cut off in his throat. He groans and he sighs, calling out Louis' name over and over again before shutting up abruptly.

Louis stops immediately, freezing the second he's outside.

He closes his puffy, tear-strained eyes once more. His teeth sink into his lip and draw blood, more than what was already spewing. Louis raises his head to the sky, rain cascades and drenched his cheeks. He twitches his fingers as they curl around his phone.

"Don't forget me," he hears.

"H—" Louis' pathetic voice breaks. "I love you! What are you talking about? I can't forget you! I'm coming to find you right now. You're coming home—"

"It's just a matter of time."

Louis closes his mouth.

"Isn't it?"

The world's caving in.

"Harry—"

"I do love you, Louis," Harry mutters. The rattling picks up again.

 _It's the bridge_ , he knows it. The bridge Louis and Harry have visited, the one they walk by all of the the time. There's a semi-broken railing, a sort of iron border, barricading the edging of it. And it hangs over a busy road—a dual carriageway—where cars drive by at the quickest of speeds. The bridge... it's big and it's impressive; and it's really fucking dangerous.

"I love you more than you could know. But sometimes, the greatest loves—the ones like ours, Louis," Harry pauses, he cries and he whimpers as the cars aggressively drive by him and his body shakes against the thin railing.

"They need to be let go."

Louis is running to his car. He's starting the ignition and he's seeing mere blackness. The words Harry cries only echo as he pulls onto a main road. His fingers strain as they wrap around his steering wheel and his legs bounce ruthlessly.

_Keep talking. Keep fucking talking to me, Harry._

"I've needed this for a long time, Louis," Harry continues. "I've needed to see it. To see the clarity of it all."

Louis silently gasps, his raw lips throb and he shakes his head. His blurry vision is an array of beaming headlights and amber orbs, water rolling down his windshield.

"I'm not afraid. Not of this."

_Keep talking. Even if it's killing me to hear._

Harry hollowly laughs as he inhales, the insistent rattling starts to buffer and Louis hears a car horn blare in the background, tires screeching and skidding.

"People have told me they're scared of falling. You've said to me yourself that you're scared of heights," Harry sighs, "well, I'm not."

Louis grimaces and scrunches his face painfully, pushing the pedal to his gas with more force.

"'M just scared of never leaving the ground."

His foot flattens out with the accelerator pressed all the way down.

"Love you, Louis."

Another car bleeps, Louis turns onto the dual carriageway and blinks as he grows closer.

"Remember what my note says."

The phone disconnects.

The headlights obscure and the world goes fatal.

Louis shuts his eyes; he lets go of the wheel entirely. As the car whirls and drifts, the tires twist and everything sort of seems to die out in slow-motion.

Naturally, Louis doesn't open his eyes again.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sorry :(  
> kudos are heavily appreciated <3


End file.
